Mother of yeshiva students attacked by skinheads in Kiev speaks to Ynet prior to her trip to Ukraine, in order to visit her son hospitalized in serious condition
Diana Bahur-Nir

The mother of 32-year-old Mordechai Gavriel-Haim, the yeshiva student stabbed by skinheads in Kiev three days ago, arrived in Ukraine Wednesday to visit of her son currently hospitalized in serious condition. 

Her ticket was funded by the Jewish Agency and she is to be hosted by the local Jewish community.

"I'm going with great sadness, my son is struggling for his life," Yelena Molozonova told Ynet earlier, before leaving for Kiev with her sister Tatiana.

"I do not wish upon anyone to lose their child like this," she said. "I have no idea what state he is in. I have a charming, quiet son who would never do anything bad to another person."

Yelena said the doctors taking care of her son - who is married with a child - say they do not know if he will make it.

"It is too soon to say whether he will live, the doctors are not prepared to commit to anything. His situation is defined as very serious, but stable," she said. "Every synagogue is praying for him. I want to believe he will live and I don't want to think about other possibilities."

Disappointed by the government 

In response to the fact that her son was attacked due to anti-Semitic motives, Yelena said, "My family has never encountered such a thing. There were occasional minor arguments with neighbors, but now it has reached a level of political parties. Skinheads are very popular nowadays."

Yelena said she has followed Russian television over the past few days, in a bid to learn more about what is being done to locate her son's attackers. One of the stations reported that four suspects have been arrested on suspicions they were involved in the attack, her sister said.

"It's obvious the incident was anti-Semitic, Mordechai crossed the street with a kippa, beard and tzitzit," Tatiana said. "They grabbed him, beat him with pieces of broken bottle and now he is in a coma. We need to pray to God, because he is still young."

She added that during interviews provided by a government official following the attack, he refrained from defining the incident as anti-Semitic.

"I was shocked by this. When I arrive in the Ukraine I plan to write him a letter and ask him several questions," she said.

August 31, 2005